Ipswich’s NuGrow given tight deadline to end suburb’s stench

A recycling company blamed for creating a stench that swamped an entire suburb for two years has been ordered to stop the stench or lose its permit to process waste.

Swanbank residents are expecting a reprieve from a stench which has plagued their suburb for years coming from recycling plant NuGrow. Picture: Contributed

An Ipswich recycling company, blamed for creating a stench which has swamped an entire suburb for two years, has been ordered to overhaul its operations and stop the stench or lose its permit to process waste.

NuGrow, which processes and recycles waste at Brookwater, Ipswich, has been given a tight one-month time frame to clean up its act or stop operations.

The Planning and Environment Court made the order granting the Environment Department a restraint order, which requires NuGrow to undertake a three-stage process over four years to overhaul its operations to permanently cut odours.

The first interim stage, to be completed within a month, requires NuGrow to neutralise odours from liquid waste tanks using ferric chloride and hydrated lime and to aerate and monitor composting conditions.

The recycling company has also been given a month to apply to Ipswich City Council for all necessary approvals to construct an engineered membrane system to contain composting odorous feedstocks.

It has a two-year maximum time frame to put in place a permanent, state-of-the-art enclosed composting and membrane system for receiving and mixing waste.

NuGrow organic waste recycling. Picture: Contributed

The system must ensure processes adhere to stringent rules for processing odorous waste within a 4km radius of homes.

If NuGrow fails to complete all works within four years from this week, it will be barred from receiving and processing odorous waste in Ipswich until the processing unit is built.

The Environment Department said the interim measures would provide Ipswich residents the fastest possible relief from the nuisance odours originating at NuGrow’s Swanbank site, while permanent infrastructure is built.

The Queensland environmental regulator secured the court win after lengthy legal proceedings that started in December.

If NuGrow fails to meet any of the court orders, it will be liable to further court proceedings to compel it to obey, or punishment for contempt of court.

Environment Department executive director for industry development and South East compliance Brad Wirth said prosecution of the company had been a long road but the court ruling was a step in the right direction.

Trucks near NuGrow site, Swanbank. Picture: Liam Kidston

“This is good progress but we aren’t done yet, and we will continue to pursue opportunities to improve the Ipswich community’s experience with local waste operators,” he said.

“It’s frankly not good enough that we must take these kinds of extreme measures to force industry to act in line with the community’s expectation.

“The stronger composting regulations that were introduced last month gave us the extra ammunition we needed to be able to secure this outcome, putting an end to months of litigation which had no guarantee of delivering this same level of benefit to the community, or within these same time frames, had it gone to a full hearing in the Court.”